>>But, wouldn't the "car" also be a component, comprising subcomponents? So, in that case it would involve pieces from all the layers.
>
>But wouldn't the car be the application? Stictly speaking the componets are COM servers and can't have a UI so you can't group them together. Correct? I'm just guessing at this point so....

Roi,

Components are NOT COM servers. COM servers are components. A component is part of a whole. Your COM server is a component of the application that creates it is a component. The application is a component of the larger system that uses it. The system is a component of the entrprise solution that uses it.

Also, the classes that combine to produce the COM server are components, the activex control in your form is a component, your form is a component, the textbox class in your form is a component. ...

A component is simply a part of something else that has an independent identity (that is it is self contained to a degree). It would be nice if components were totally self contained, but they all have some dependency on the host.